Chidozie Ajah, a senior aide to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, has disclosed that the Senate is proposing a drastic alteration to the Reserved Seats for Women Bill, seeking to limit the number of the additional women-only seats in the upper chamber to six, one per geopolitical zone, instead of one per state as initially designed.
Mr Ajah, the special adviser (Legislative) to the deputy speaker, revealed this on Friday during a media training for members of the House of Representatives Press Corps.
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The session, themed “Strengthening Reporting on the Reserved Seats for Women Bill,” was organised by the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs in collaboration with the TOS Group, an organisation that supports vulnerable communities, particularly women, youth, and children through education, health, civic engagement, and sustainable development initiatives.
According to Mr Ajah, the constitution review committee received a proposal from the Senate suggesting that, for now, only six additional seats should be created in the upper chamber, representing Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, far below the 37 seats originally proposed in the bill.
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“The report presented on the floor took into account some proposed alterations, including the position of the Senate that it can only afford six additional seats for now, as against the 37 provided in the bill,” he said.
He added that this debate is still ongoing and could shift as lawmakers work toward a consensus, noting that constitutional amendments remain fluid until final passage.
Mr Ajah stressed that the reserved seats proposal is not a reaction to women’s inability to compete but a corrective measure to address deep-rooted obstacles that have historically shut women out of political leadership.
“It is not a lack of interest. It is not paucity of qualified women,” he said. “It is the consequence of structural, cultural, and systemic barriers that continue to hold more than half of our population back.”
He argued that the bill is not an unfair advantage for women but “a structural correction to our democratic system,” given Nigeria’s abysmal level of female representation.
What the bill seeks to achieve
The Reserved Seats for Women Bill is one of the key items in the ongoing constitution review, which has seen 84 bills reduced to 44 through consolidation.
The bill, jointly sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and 12 other lawmakers, aims to amend the 1999 Constitution to create additional women-only seats in the National Assembly and state assemblies.
Its provisions include: an additional seat for each state and the FCT, amounting to a total of 37 new seats in the Senate and another 37 in the House of Representatives; and three reserved seats for women per state in the State Houses of Assembly, amounting to a total of 108 additional seats.
These seats, Mr Ajah clarified, “are not carved out of existing ones but expand the composition of the assemblies to create space for women at the decision-making table.”
He explained that the bill would amend Sections 48, 49, 71, 77, 91, and 117 of the 1999 Constitution. An additional proposed amendment to Section 42, Nigeria’s anti-discrimination clause, is also under consideration to forestall constitutional challenges.
The seats would be temporary special measures, lasting four election cycles (16 years).
Mr Ajah referenced Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burkina Faso, and South Africa as examples of African countries that have benefited from structural gender quotas.
He warned, however, that even the full implementation of Nigeria’s original proposal would barely lift the country into double-digit representation.
“Even if the National Assembly approves the initial proposal of 37 each, it will only bring Nigeria to a position of 13.6 per cent, which is still abysmally low,” he said.
Nonetheless, he argued that starting small is better than not starting at all.
Debunking misconceptions
Mr Ajah tackled several misconceptions surrounding the bill, stressing that it does not displace men and is not discriminatory.
According to him, the cost concerns are exaggerated. He noted that an expanded legislature would raise governance costs by “only about 1 per cent of the national budget.”
He also clarified that the bill does not invalidate merit, stressing that “Merit cannot thrive in a system designed without equity.”
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While expressing optimism, Mr Ajah reminded journalists that constitutional amendments are unpredictable.
He urged the media to “sharpen their pens, cameras, and voices” to ensure Nigerians understand what is at stake, describing the bill as “one of the most ambitious attempts yet to correct the imbalance in women’s political representation.”
Senate responds
Yemi Adaramodu, spokesperson for the Senate, told PREMIUM TIMES that any discussion of increasing or reducing seats at this stage is premature.
“The bill has not reached us. We have not started to work on it. So the issue of either increasing or reducing does not arise at all now. We have to see the bill, the provisions, and several other details before we can consider how many seats or whatever,” he said.
Similarly, Ismail Mudashir, legislative aide to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, said the report from the committee had not yet been formally presented on the Senate floor. He emphasised that it is only after a formal presentation that senators can review and respond to proposals.
“They are putting the report together. The House of Representatives has done theirs. The Senate is still working on the reports. I don’t know when it will be presented, but it will soon.”
Mr Mudashir emphasised that any information outside the formal presentation could be misleading.
He also highlighted ongoing efforts to harmonise the reports from both chambers.
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